Copenhagen: Crime and religion

Copenhagen: Crime and religion

The Copenhagen Police annual report of 2008 says the following regarding gangs:

Religion can play a role among the group members.  Some maintain a relatively strict interpretation of their religion, while others are divided about this, which is seen [by the fact] that towards the parent generation they keep their faith, while 'out in the city' they consume liquor and drugs.

Danish blog Uriasposten brings the following from a subscriber-only Jyllands-Posten article:

The Copenhagen police are very guarded about explaining what's behind the wording, but Chief Police Inspector Per Larsen says: It's not so that I can say that he and he and he are religious.  But it's a question of describing the complete picture of the situation and which theories we work with.  The extensive study that we have ongoing should uncover whether there are connections between religion and crime.  At the same time the study will uncover whether there's a flow of money from the criminal communities to the religious communities.

As Uriasposten points out, there's no mention of Islam or of terrorism funding, either in the article or in the original police report.  I think they don't really need to.  "Immigrant gangs" is a euphemism that everybody's comfortable with and which nobody misunderstands.

Sources: Uriasposten; Copenahgen Police annual report 2008Jyllands-Posten (Danish)

See also: Denmark: Internal justice in Muslim communities

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